Varsity Girls Soccer fell to Cupertino High School 2-0 on Tuesday, Jan. 28. Despite many back-and-forth plays and close goals throughout, with CHS consistently keeping the ball near MVHS’s goal, the first half of the game ended with the teams stuck in a stalemate and a score of 0-0 due to MVHS’s strong defense.
With tensions running high due to a lack of players on the MVHS team, as many were sick and injured, CHS scored the first goal of the game 20 minutes into the second half. Shortly after, sophomore and goalkeeper Elektra Masegian dove to fend off a close shot, creating an opening for CHS to score the winning goal. Masegian attributes this loss to MVHS’s multiple missing players, with the team playing the first half of the game with only 10 players instead of the usual 11, as the consistent absences of team members took a hit on the team’s spirit.
“If you’re familiar with how World War I went with the Triple Alliance, it was more of a moral boost that pushed them over,” Masegian said. “And long story short, we’re lacking morale. When we have more players, that morale is boosted tenfold. We actually played pretty well for being a man down half the game and no bench for the rest of it.”
Encouraged by the cheers coming from the few people watching in the stands, MVHS maintained a steadfast spirit throughout the game. Regardless of their loss, Masegian believes that the team has improved, playing more aggressively as the season progresses. Sophomore and outside back Joyce Chou agrees, expressing her pride in the team’s persistence and continued improvement despite unfavorable circumstances in attendance.
“Even though we lost, I think everyone really sucked it up and increased their physicality,” Chou said. “The mids really locked it down as well when they were marking, and we got a lot more plays through ball and split passes. We were all pretty disappointed that we could only start with 10 players, but we were all like, ‘OK, guys, we can do this. We’ll lock it down and we’ll shut them down.’”
